Huge profits announced by the owners of British Gas the day after consumers were handed a 35 per cent rise in the cost of gas have been condemned as "grotesque".

Centrica said its half-year profits were almost £1 billion - equivalent to around £5million per day - while Shell also reported profits of almost £8 billion.

At the same time, cash-strapped families are seeing their fuel bills soar. The latest price increases by British Gas, imposed to restore "reasonable profitability", mean that households will see their energy bills jump by more than £250 to £1,317.

Tony Woodley, joint leader of the Unite union described the profits as "grotesque".

He said: "These latest vast profits now put the case for a windfall tax on big oil companies beyond argument.

"The Government should grasp the nettle and do what it did in 1997 by taxing grotesque profits and put the proceeds into helping the millions of people struggling with their fuel bills."

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Energywatch campaigns director Adam Scorer said households would be "staggered" at Centrica's profits.

"Customers will be outraged to learn that while they ponder how to make ends meet Centrica's shareholders are enjoying an increase in their dividends," he said.

Centrica's profits were £992m in the first six months of 2008.

The company sought to defend its fuel price rise, saying that, without it, British Gas would lose "hundreds of millions of pounds" this year.

"Given the scale of upstream gas and power investments required by us and other companies to ensure the lights don't go out, we can't afford to run British Gas at a loss," a spokesman said.

Chief executive Sam Laidlaw added: "This is a business that has got a million shareholders - a lot of pension funds and people have got their savings invested in British Gas shares and we have to look after them".

However, Patrick South, Age Concern's head of public affairs, said: "Energy companies say they can't absorb wholesale price rises, but in light of their profits this will sound hollow to the one-in-three pensioners likely to be in fuel poverty this winter."